What now for José Mourinho after wretched night?

If Manchester United fans thought that the performance was wretched — and how many big European nights at Old Trafford have been played out to long spells of horrified silence? — they would have been even more dismayed by José Mourinho’s press conference afterwards.

Answers veered between the delusional — apparently, United had not played at all badly — and the obstructively monosyllabic when the manager was very gently probed on what undeniably seemed a horribly cautious approach to begin with and, ultimately, a dismal failure of strategy.

Managers often complain that we, the media, dwell on controversies rather than serious matters of football detail such as tactics. But when someone asked, very reasonably, if Mourinho was concerned that a laboured United had managed just…